Worlds Apart 49
Gorlyn fell to the floor as the chains were released. He hadn’t the strength to try and brace for the fall. Thankfully the beating had left him limp and being limp when you fell often prevented broken bones. It did not prevent bruises. Not that it was likely he would notice the bruises, the whip had left barely any skin (or so it felt) and the hot pokers graced his skin with a perfect grid of blistering pain.
On the bright side he was certain he would get to see Leisa next. Sweet loving Leisa, a woman from the past he could not remember. She would gently caress his forehead and tell him that she loved him. A few moments with her pretty smile and sweet voice and he could almost forget the torture that enveloped every minute of his life.
Two guards lifted him enough to drag him out of the room. When they didn’t return him to his cell Gorlyn’s heart soared. He was right it was time again to see Leisa. He could picture her sitting on the bed in the room set aside for visits, all made up and wearing an expensive gown. He wasn’t allowed to use the bed, but Leisa would always flirt with the guards to give them privacy. What the guards didn’t see they couldn’t report to his trainer. The guards never saw her bandage up his wounds so he wouldn’t bleed and then lay next to him on the bed.
They rounded the corner and entered the visiting room. There was no bed, no Leisa, just a room empty of furniture and a man in strange robes. The man reached out his hand and a strange green light filled the room. Gorlyn felt his skin tingle and crawl until the light faded and left him with a queasy stomach.
“It’s body is healed. The pain and the scars remain as requested.” The man spoke and left the room. The guards dropped him completely and one kicked his side.
“On your knees, dev’sleuv,” the one who hadn’t kicked him growled.
Gorlyn was surprised to find it was not that difficult to push himself into a kneeling position. The pain he currently felt would normally mean his body would not respond, but his muscles moved with ease. None of this made any sense.
It must have had something to do with man and the light. The man in the strange robes had said something about healing ‘it’s’ body. The guards often talked about him as an ‘it’. He always checked when they did that he still had his manhood. That would mean the robed man had healed him. Was this what mage healing was like? If so he didn’t know why people paid money for it.
This was a new experience for Gorlyn. Normally a healer, a non-mage healer, would come and reset any broken bones and stitch up any deep cuts that needed it. He wasn’t tortured again until the healer declared him fit for it. Not that he got a real respite from pain. It hurt to heal.
“Please sirs,” Gorlyn stammered. “What....is....going...on?”
“Speak proper dev’sleuv.” The guard kicked him again and Gorlyn realized he had spoken in Yndsian.
Gorlyn repeated himself in Ghurynai.
“Don’t know and don’t care. Your trainer said to bring you here.” The guard answered.
His trainer? Every prisoner in Gorlyn’s cell block had a trainer. A well muscled, fit young male in an military style uniform (although it did not match any country’s military standard) who oversaw and participated in every bit of torture done to his assigned dev’sleuv. For the longest time Gorlyn thought he was the only one without a trainer. However one day he noticed the guards would look towards a shadowed corner every time the torture changed. And one time the shadowed corner had revealed boots just like those worn by trainers.
“And here’s your trainer now.” The other guard shoved Gorlyn’s head down until his face brushed the floor. He heard footsteps walk across the small room and stop in front of him.
“Rise up.” An all to familiar voice spoke.
Gorlyn knew what the command meant. He was to raise his torso so that he was completely vertical but keep his head down. However he couldn’t help but raise his head and see for himself.
“Leisa.” He whispered. And sure enough standing there in a trainer’s uniform was the woman who made his life worth living and she slapped him hard enough to make him fall over.
“You will call me mistress.” It was the same voice except instead of being soft and reassuring it was hard and demanding. Before he could begin to process any of it she kicked him in the groin. “No one told you to break position.”
Quickly Gorlyn pushed himself upright. She hadn’t said anything about looking at her so he chanced looking up again. He tried to find the Leisa he knew in her eyes as he pleaded. “I don’t understand....you’re my trainer now?”
“Oh no.” She smiled at him in a way she had never smiled before. “I have always been your trainer.”
“But....you.....used to.....in this room.....” Gorlyn swallowed afraid to admit it in front of the guards and get into more trouble then he already was in. But he had to know. “You used to hold me and tell me y....tell me nice things.”
“And do you know what I was thinking about when I did all those things?” She asked him. Her voice had a mocking sweetness to it. Before he could think of an answer she gave him one. “I was planning what I was going to have them do to you as soon as you got back to your cell.”
“No!” He found himself screaming. “You cared about me! You were the only good times! The only reason I had to live! Please Leisa! Tell me this is come kind of joke.”
He didn’t know how he got back down on the floor but it had to have something to do with the new pain to his face.
“That is the last time you get off lightly. Fail to call me Mistress again and it will be lashes instead of slaps.” She waited for him to push himself back up and then gave him the unnerving smile again. “And I know exactly which whips you hate the most.”
There was nothing of ‘his’ Leisa in the woman before him. He knew without a doubt that it was the same woman and not some evil twin. ‘His’ Leisa had never existed and never would. He felt as if he had just witnessed the death of his only friend in the world.
“I’m sorry mistress.” He bowed his head.
“Did you really think someone could love you?” She asked as if it was the most bizarre thought in the world.
“Yes, mistress.” He answered swallowing down his grief.
“You’re such a stupid piece of shit.” She sneered. “Bring all the implements to my chambers.” She spoke over his head so Gorlyn assumed she was talking to the guards. “Put this one on him.”
He heard a rustle and the movements of the guards behind him. Something cold and hard, probably metal, was placed around his kaspern.
“Now attach this.” Leisa ordered.
“Lift your chin.” One of the guards ordered and clipped a chain to the metal around his neck.
“You two gather all the implements from his closet and move them my room.” Leisa ordered. The guards left the room.
“Raise your head and look.” She ordered. With the guards gone Gorlyn knew she meant him and did as he was told. “Now stand up.” He rose stiffly to his feet. He noticed the other end of the chain attached the metal around his neck was in her hands. “Do you see how much slack there is in this chain?”
“Yes, mistress.” Goryln answered.
“Good. You will insure that this much slack is maintained at all times. Failure to do so will result in fifty lashes. Come it’s time to show you the pit.” She moved to the door and Gorlyn scrambled after her. He learned quickly that keeping a certain amount of slack was not easily done as she led him through several corridors and down a few flights of stairs.
The pit lived up to it’s name. It was a large two story cavern deep under the castle. The top story was just a walkway around the bottom story wide enough for two people to walk side by side comfortably. Leisa stopped at the railing that ran around the walkway .
“Come look down.” She ordered. Gorlyn obeyed.
Below him stood ten men. All naked and all wearing kasperns. The stood in two straight lines spaced evenly apart. There was enough space between each man to fit two more men standing arms length apart. A male voice below in a place Gorlyn couldn’t see yelled out instructions.
“Turn left!” Most of the men did as told. The few who turned the wrong way got hit with something the trainers were holding. It was too far away for Gorlyn to make out the details of what the men were being hit with but not too far for the sound of them crying out in pain. There was no time to recover just another order. “Kneel!” “Stand!” “Head down!”
“Starting tomorrow you will be one of them.” Leisa’s voice made Gorlyn jump. He had forgotten she was there. “Twelve hours every day. It’s a bit of a game. The trainer who’s dev’sleuv has the least amount of marks on his body at the end wins. The days I win will be the nights you get to sleep.”
He looked up at her in horror. Spoke so calmly, so matter of fact, and if he wasn’t mistaken there was a bit of pleasure in her voice as well. She was looking forward to this....game.
She slapped him hard enough for flashes of silver to dance across his vision.
She announced. “You will never look a free person in the eyes. In fact you would do well to keep your eyes permanently lowered. Understand?”
“Yes, Leisa.” He didn’t think before he spoke. Another slap came. “Yes, mistress!” He corrected himself.
“Hmf. You would be the kind to learn the hard way.” Although her words were disapproving she didn’t sound the least bit disappointed. “Five lashes when we get to my rooms, come.” She pulled his leash.
She thought the fight had been beaten out of him. He thought so as well. They both were wrong. And his body had been restored to full strength through magic. Pulling hard on the chain proved she was not holding on tightly and it slipped through her fingers. He didn’t stop to pull it out of her reach he just ran.
He tried to retrace his steps out but he had been paying more attention to the slack in the chain the direction he was going. Still he made turns at random hoping one would lead out of the building. Although he didn’t even know what building he was in or where the building was located, still he thought he would do better outside. Bells were ringing from somewhere and he could hear the sound of people running after him.
A random left turn proved his last as it turned into a dead end with a group of ten guards sitting at a table playing cards. He turned back around and ran right into the men pursuing him. He tried to fight and found he lacked any real knowledge of fighting. He scratched, bit and kicked anyone who came near him. They pinned him to the ground but still he struggled until he felt a pain in the back of his head and his world went black.
~~@~~
Gorlyn sat bold upright and was instantly wide awake screaming “No!” at the top of his lungs. His surroundings surprised him. He had expected to wake either in his cell in the dungeon, the floor of Leisa’s bedroom, or worst of all hanging in Leisa’s private punishment chamber. Instead he found himself sitting in a large four post canopy bed. The curtains were all pulled back as were the drapes on the windows letting in enough moonlight to see decently by.
Then it all came together. He wasn’t in training any more. He belonged to Lord/Ambassador Neisk. He was in his master’s bed. His head spun a bit. This was all very very very wrong.
“Easy, Gorlyn.” His master’s calm soothing voice brought him out of his panic. Although he remained tense and ready for something bad to happen. Something bad would surely happen. “It is alright. You were having a nightmare. Everything is going to be alright.”
“I’m sorry master,” Gorlyn started to crawl to the other side of the bed to get off. “I shouldn’t be in your bed, master.”
“Stop!” His master commanded and Gorlyn froze.
“Come back here and lie down. That is an order.” His master’s words left no room for argument. Gorlyn did as he was told.
“Good.” His master’s voice softened a bit as Gorlyn obeyed him. “Now place your head here on my chest. This too is an order.” Although his voice was still soft and soothing, the words were spoken like the person expected them to be obeyed.
Two opinions warred within him. It was wrong to lay like this with his master in his master’s bed. It was also wrong to disobey his master. It seemed his kaspern agreed there was a conflict of interest. He could feel it wanting to punish him if he made the wrong choice. He choose obedience to his master and did as he was told. His kaspern seemed to approve.
Placing his head on his master’s chest he could hear his master’s heartbeat. It’s rhythm was slow and steady compared to his own racing heart. His master reached across him and started to rub Gorlyn’s arm. Up and down slowly, starting at just under his shoulder to just above his elbow.
“I am going to count from one to two. When I say one I want you to inhale. When I say two I want you to exhale. Are you ready?” His master didn’t say this was an order but his voice implied it.
“Yes, master.” Gorlyn answered.
“One....Two...One....Two.” His master slowly alternated between the two numbers and before long Gorlyn was breathing to the rhythm of his master’s voice without thinking. Although he found he was counting along with his master in his head. He also noticed his heart beat was now in sync with his master’s. By the rise and fall of his master’s chest it appeared his master was inhaling and exhaling on the same numbers.
Gorlyn felt his whole body relax. Without even thinking of it he found his arm move to wrap around his master’s waist. He knew it was wrong but his body didn’t seem to care. For awhile he waited for a reprimand. When none came he found he could relax even more then he thought. His eye lids closed and refused to open. And with the sound of his master counting he slipped into a dreamless sleep.